$14.5 Million Technology Plan Proposed for Montgomery Schools

Montgomery County classrooms would get a $14.5 million infusion of technology if a request from schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr passes the school board and county council.

Starr wants all elementary schools to have Promethean boards, high-tech whiteboards that are connected to computers and give students new ways to interact with their lessons. He also wants to add wireless networking to all county schools.

The initiative would be financed over five years using school technology funds and money from the Federal Communications Commission’s Education Rate program, referred to as e-Rate funds, according to a Starr memo released Thursday.

In an interview, Starr said increasing access to technology to schools is essential to advancing 21st century skills. The Promethean boards are not essential to roll out the new Curriculum 2.0 — which rewrites lessons to encourage more critical thinking — in elementary schools, but are “certainly incredibly useful,” he said.